


Big Damn Heroines

by mothboys



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Bisexual Buffy Summers, Bisexual Faith Lehane, Demons, F/F, Fuffy, Mutual Pining, Nothing super harsh just like Slayin', Possible Character Death, Season 3 AU, Slow Burn, Willow is also Bi and that's on God but not relevant to the plot, possible gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24070309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothboys/pseuds/mothboys
Summary: The Annual Apocalypse has found its way to the lovely little city of Sunnydale, California!With an added twist - it's not just threatening Sunnydale - it's threatening the safety of the world.Oh, and you know, Faith is trying to put aside her stupid schoolgirl crush but, you know. It's Whatever.
Relationships: Daniel "Oz" Osbourne/Willow Rosenberg, Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Big Damn Heroines

**Author's Note:**

> howdy, howdy let's get rowdy.   
> so two things -   
> 1\. I have literally been reading Buffy Fanfiction for the past 11 years of my life and am super excited to finally contribute to the fandom with a fic   
> 2\. I haven't written it before so if anything seems a little ooc or like TOO outside of the realm of possibility with a character I thrive off of feedback and greatly appreciate it.
> 
> Also quick headcanon note: How I assume the slayer line is it literally takes a slayer from each like 'year' of birth as a possible slayer - so like Buffy being born '81, Kendra '82, and Faith '83.
> 
> buuuuuuut ANYWAY  
> Tumblr: harlcyquinzcl.tumblr.com  
> Twitter: @laurahoIIis

Faith sat slouched back in the stiff library chair, fingers running over the hem of her shirt trying desperately to work through all of her pent up energy. She was trapped in a ‘Scooby Meeting’ and Giles was rambling on about a new something-or-other threatening the safety of sweet little Sunnydale. Faith couldn’t care less. She had more pressing matters on her mind. Namely, the girl sat to her right: Buffy Summers, The Chosen One, everyone’s favorite slayer. Faith scanned her eyes over Buffy, who was scribbling away in a notebook, clearly not too impressed with whatever Giles was talking about, she was – wow. There was just something about Buffy that Faith couldn’t help but be drawn in to. Maybe it was the fact they were both slayers, or that they were both just teenagers, or she was desperate for friends. Another thought flickered through Faith’s mind as she fixed her eyes on her counterpart, ‘ _Or, hey, maybe the big-ass crush you have on her? Thought of that genius?’_

Faith had a crush on Buffy. If anyone really paid attention it would be easy to see; the way the harshness melted from Faith’s eyes when looking at Buffy and only Buffy, or the small dumb grin she’d have when joking around with Buffy, or just the fact almost every sentence was dripped with an innuendo when directed toward the blonde girl. Faith rolled her eyes at herself and let out a small huff, which earned the attention of Buffy who gave a tiny smile and raised her brows in response. Caught, Faith gave a sheepish smile and shook her head a tiny bit, before glancing at Buffy’s notebook and raising her eyebrows back. Buffy had been drawing, nothing too impressive - she wasn’t exactly an artist, not that she’d have the time to practice even if she wanted to. However, it was Faith, a relatively mediocre drawing of her but nonetheless, it carried her resemblance.

Buffy shot Faith a small smile and quickly wrote in the notebook, ‘Art class, I have to practice somewhere’. Faith rummaged around in her jacket’s pockets finally finding a pen and scooted her chair somehow closer to Buffy and wrote ‘It’s cute B’, she skipped a line, ‘You bored too?’ Buffy slid a hand onto Faith’s leg under the table to grab her attention. Once she had her counterpart’s attention Buffy rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion before writing, ‘He’s talking about literally nothing. I mean the same stupid nest we’ve been trying to track all week but, hell-o, nothing new.’ Faith snickered in response while resting her head in her hand, trying to cover her mouth so no one, namely Giles, would notice. Faith began to write before someone cleared their throat from across the table. Buffy and Faith separated as if they had been electrocuted, acting like two little kids who had been caught doing something they shouldn’t, Giles shooting them a disapproving look from across the table retrained his focus on the rest of the room. Willow and Xander shared a quick look, both amused, but quickly brought their attention back to Giles.

“As I was saying,” The librarian began while taking off his glasses and cleaning them, “Angel has managed to track the nest to the docks. So, Buffy, Faith, you will patrol there tonight, try to get a sense of their numbers, we don’t want an incident so if it appears to be as large as we think it is do not engage. We’ll come up with a plan from there. Understood?” Faith gave a solemn nod; slightly embarrassed she had been caught as Buffy piped up, “You got it, Giles”. The bell rang and Giles gave a small gesture, signifying that the Scooby meeting had been adjourned. Buffy closed her notebook, shoving the pencil in the metal binding, and turned her attention back toward Faith.

“So, want to come over for dinner?” The shorter slayer asked, catching Faith off-guard. Buffy continued, as she stood, grabbing her backpack on the way up, “Since we have to go patrol after it’d probably just be better if we start at my place and free food - always a bonus” Moving to stand, Faith pulled her leather jacket back on and gave a small shrug and an over-confident grin, “I’m down, plus I get to dazzle Mrs. S again”

“Buffy? We’re going to be late for chemistry,” Willow called from the entrance to the library. “Sorry, one sec,” Buffy replied to the redhead, focusing her attention back to Faith she gave a small snort and rolled her eyes as she headed off to her next class, with Xander and Willow, “I’ll see you at six?”

Faith was…

Faith was anxious. No strike that, Faith was _giddy._ Sure, she had met up with Buffy at her house before patrolling. That was remarkably standard for the pair. Faith getting invited over for dinner? That was different. Faith had headed back to her motel room after agreeing to dinner at the Summers’ house and proceeded to spend the span of three hours deciding what to wear. It needed to be practical, however, she still wanted to be able to steal Buffy’s attention away, but wanted to avoid ‘slutty’ as long as Joyce was concerned. She had finally decided on a pair of black leather pants, a cropped tank top, and her jean jacket. It felt safe enough to move in and safe enough to woo the girl of her dreams so she was set.

She arrived at the Summers’ house early, for once in her life, and rang the doorbell only to be greeted moments later by a grinning Buffy Summers. “Faith! Come in,” she chirped, excited to see her friend. Faith flashed her a love-struck grin following her in as Buffy continued to speak, “Dinner should be ready, and mom is super excited to see you.”

Faith’s stomach sunk a little. She had never been great with parents, but it was just Joyce. She had already met her - but that was before she had wanted to date her daughter. Would it be obvious that she was all heart-eyes over Buffy? Or would it just seem like they’re close friends? Just like how she was with Willow. Nothing more. Just two close teenaged gal-pals. Joyce exited the kitchen carrying their dinner, adding it to the dining room table and spoke, “Faith, honey, it’s so nice to see you – I know we had this last time you were over and you seemed to like it so I thought I make it again.” Giving a gentle smile Faith nodded and replied, “Looks as great as last time Mrs. S”

The small group quietly ate, small talk being passed around about school, some about slaying. What Faith did notice was Buffy gluing her eyes to her a little more than normal. Once Joyce stood from the table grabbing plates, Faith nudged the other slayer under the table and raised her brows. Buffy rose hers in return unsure whether she had been caught ogling the other girl. Faith leaned toward the walkway to the kitchen, checking to see if Joyce was assuredly out of earshot she leaned back to her original position and caught Buffy’s eye and let out a small laugh, “See something you like, B?”

Buffy, sensing a challenge, pursed her lips and offered, “I’ll let you know if I do”. Buffy...well, she felt _some_ way about Faith. The tiny slayer hadn’t quite picked up on what the feeling was. Sure, Faith was just full of bravado, dark lipstick, and big goofy smiles, and looking at her was always a full sensory experience that made Buffy’s stomach flip-flop to no end but what did that _mean_? Joyce re-entered, taking quick note of the tension in the room and quirked a brow up, “Everything alright girls?” Buffy offered a quick plastered-on smile and spoke, “Yeah! We just have to head out – you know patrol.”

Faith caught the hint and took to her feet in record speed and nodded in agreement, “Yeah, if we get it done early - I was gonna help Buffy study for the SAT.” The lie rolled easily off of Faith’s tongue, even though using the blonde’s full name was unnatural to her. Before Joyce could utter another word Buffy grabbed Faith’s hand and dragged her out of the house. Once partially down the block the brunette furrowed her brows and asked, “What was that all about, B?” Buffy blew a sigh out, her lips lightly buzzing in response as she finally answered, “I didn’t wanna deal with my mom being all clingy– you know bringing out the baby pictures and embarrassing stories?”

Faith’s face dropped for a moment, her eyes landing down on the pavement. “My mom wasn’t really mom-of-the-year material, blondie. Mrs. S is wicked cool though, you’re lucky.” Buffy offered a shrug and replied, “You don’t have to live with her.” The blonde gestured with her head to the side and spoke, “Ready to scope these big-uglies out?” Faith patted at the stake sitting in her waistband and spoke, “Locked-and-loaded.” The pair walked their way toward the docks the conversation dying down as they neared. They rounded the corner, their pace slowing each taking note of the hair standing up on the back of their necks. With bated breath, they paused as a creak around the corner interrupted their movement. Faith froze, taking Buffy by the arm and yanking her back into the shadows around the corner. Buffy and Faith squatted behind some shipping boxes, Buffy practically lying on top of Faith in the rush for them to get out of sight.

A man rounded the corner, he tilted his head up and sniffed the air, and his back turned to the slayers. “They’re close, I can smell them,” He spoke, turning his attention toward something off in the distance. Another voice rang out, “Spread out, we can’t have them getting to the Infernals.” The slayers shared a look, Buffy mouthing, “Infernals?” Faith shook her head slightly with her face scrunched up, no recognition coming to her. They waited a minute, carefully listening for the likely-vampires to walk off, before standing up. Faith nodded her head deeper into the docks and spoke, “C’mon, B.” Buffy froze a second and spoke, “We don’t know how many there are and I’m not exactly wanting to get into a surprise party situation,” Buffy protested pulling herself away from the other girl for a moment. “What are we going to tell G-Man if we don’t know what these infernal-whatevers are?” Faith argued in a hushed tone, now becoming very aware of the closeness of the other girl.

Buffy rolled her eyes and pulled back from the half-straddle she had against Faith and crossed her arms, “Or they already know we’re here and it’s a suicide mission and we need backup.” Faith scoffed and mirrored Buffy by crossing her arms, “I can’t believe you’re chickening out right now.” A pout formed on Buffy’s lips, her face falling, “Faith, can you please just chill out for a second. We have a name – that’s more than we knew before and Giles can get all research-y.” Faith sighed and spoke, “Fine, but the moment we figure out whatever these motherfuckers are we’re coming back.”

Buffy peeked her head up from behind the shipping box checking to see if the vampires had truly left. Once she was satisfied that the coast was clear Buffy extended a hand to Faith. Faith took it and pulled herself up and spoke, “So, library?” Buffy gave an affirmative nod and began walking, their hands remaining loosely interlaced, “The sooner we fill Giles in the sooner we ‘figure out whatever these motherfuckers are’.” Faith released a light bubbly laugh – a short snort interrupting the giggle, “Damn B, I didn’t think you had a mouth on you.” As they made their way onto the main stretch of downtown Sunnydale Buffy jostled Faith, knocking their shoulders together, “I was quoting you, _F.”_ A lull came over the conversation before Buffy continued, “I didn’t think you were the kind of person who giggled.”

Faith rolled her eyes, letting out a much softer half-hearted laugh, “I mean people giggle.” Buffy offered a small smile and spoke, “You’re just so ‘tough’ or whatever, I mean I’m not used to you being cute.” Faith’s heart skipped a beat, a nervous smile quirking up on her face. Buffy calling her cute honestly was making her absolutely freak out. Buffy Anne Summers – the straightest girl to exist, the most perfect girl to exist, the Chosen One - thought _she_ was cute. A blush crept its way up Faith’s face as she began to rack her brain for the right thing to say. A moment passed and all the brunette could muster up was a non-committal shrug and spoke, “So, you think Giles knows about those Infrared things?”

Another laugh rang out into the night, this time from Buffy, who allowed herself to be amused for a moment before correcting the girl next to her, “Infernals,” She sighed and shook her head, still laughing slightly, “Giles’ll know, or at least know that a big ol’ dusty book’ll know.” They neared the school, quickly making their way through the back entrance and into the library where their watcher sat, draped over an anthology. The sound of the double doors creaking open brought his head up from the book and brought the Englishman to his feet.

“Ah, Buffy, Faith - how did the docks fair?” He asked, moving to meet them as the pair made their way into the library. Buffy took charge when speaking to Giles, “We saw two vampires, sounded like there was a lot more, but they mentioned something that sounds suspiciously demon-y.” Giles rose his brows, moving to stand a little straighter as Buffy continued, “They, first off, totally knew we were there and then they said something about keeping us away from ‘The Infernals’.” Buffy finished bringing her fingers up in air quotes. By this point, the watcher had shoved his glasses up further on the bridge of his nose and made a soft ‘tsk’ with his tongue and began to rifle through another compendium of demons and ghouls.

“Infernals are often brought up in religious contexts – traditionally Jewish and occasionally by Catholics,” The man began to explain, “In more recent history The Church of Satan has taken to worshipping them as – as a form of an antihero.” Faith’s arms crossed and her brows shot up, “So like demons are their Gods?” Giles finally reached the page in the book that he was searching for and ushered the Slayers over to the book. “To a point – they read like fairytales, the demons – Abaddon, Azazel, Damballa, Haborym, Balaam – are often thought to be harbingers of the end of the world.”

The two teens shared a quick look of panic before both leaned in closer to the book. Buffy was the first to speak, in classic form, attempting to create an immediate game-plan, “So how do we stop them from going all apocalypse on us?” Giles bit his lip and released a fairly heavy sigh, “Unfortunately, there are different rules for each demon. Most mythology mentions them under their categories rather than their names.” Giles flipped to another page and handed it to the two girls to inspect.

“Azazel. War.”

Another rustle of the pages.

“Damballa. Conquest.”

Another page.

“Balaam. Famine.”

Two more pages.

“Haborym. Death.”

Giles paled, removing his glasses from his face, rubbing at the corners of his eyes. “I’m afraid we are dealing with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Faith audibly swallowed, her mouth growing slightly dry, “What about that last guy? That’s five.” A small dry laugh was earned from the elder man. “Abaddon is more commonly known as ‘The Destroyer’. He appears after the Horsemen – the Infernals – have broken the four seals.” Buffy, who had been biting her lip to keep quiet the whole time finally spoke up, “So we have to beat them at their own game?”

“I’m afraid so,” Giles spoke, running a hand through his hair and placing his glasses carefully back on his face. “We don’t even know if they’re all in Sunnydale – and if we get rid of one of them they can’t finish ending the world – right?” Buffy pressed, closing the book and turning her full attention toward her watcher. He shook his head bringing his vision to the blonde in front of him, “I’m afraid the specific Infernal completing the task is more a matter of tradition. Yes, their powers make them more suitable to perform their rituals but it’s more about the seals being broken. The other three are capable of finishing the work if required.”

“How do we know if one of those seal-things _is_ broken?” Faith asked, anxiety beginning to bloom in her stomach. “Truthfully,” Giles began to answer, “We would begin to see side-effects of what the specific seal was – war would break out with no end. Food supplies would be short worldwide and so on.” The younger slayer cast her gaze to the ground and muttered, “Shit.” Buffy blew a quick breath through her lips and spoke, “So we have to find all of them.” Giles gave a grim smile and replied, “I’m afraid so – hopefully there will be a higher concentration here due to our being on the Hellmouth.”

Faith shook her head and spoke, her voice carrying an uncharacteristic slight waver, “So we have to go back – we know they’re at the docks – or at least one of ‘em is and I don’t wanna just sit here and wait.” The scariest thing Faith had ever dealt with was Kakistos – a big scary overpowered vampire. He threatened her life; sure, he killed her watcher, sure. What he didn’t do was bring about the promise of the apocalypse. Buffy put a hand on Faith’s arm in an attempt to calm her, “If they’re really as important as they sound they probably have a whole entourage of baddies protecting them. Just running straight in isn’t exactly a good game plan.”

Faith shot Buffy a rare look of panic – she was outside her element and couldn’t pretend that this was exactly something she knew how to deal with – hell she barely knew how to deal with her own demons let alone fighting off the harbingers of the end of the world. “I get that you’ve done the whole ‘saving the world’ thing like a thousand times, but I’m kind of a rookie here, B, and like I don’t know if I’m totally like cool to just like chill and make plans about the apocalypse when we could just walk in there and kick some serious ass.”

Giles cleared his throat, interrupting the slayers, “If it is of any solace we can have Angel look into it – he may be able to blend in better than the two of you.” Faith opened her mouth again to argue when Buffy quickly spoke over her, “Okay, and Faith and I can go back when?” Giles took a sharp inhale but gave a quick nod, “I believe that you two should return as soon as we get word from Angel – he should at least be able to provide enough information for us to hopefully act soon - I think we should call a meeting tomorrow after school if at all possible.”

Faith tensed but just shrugged Buffy’s hand off of her and spoke, “Fine – yeah – whatever.” Giles gave a weary smile and pulled his glasses off, yet again, “Buffy, Faith, I think you should go get some rest – we will figure this out tomorrow and we’ll make our plan from there.”

The taller slayer sucked in a breath but sighed, turning on her heel and took her exit from the library. Buffy and Giles exchanged a look for a moment before he exasperatedly nodded his head toward Faith, giving Buffy the permission to go after Faith. Buffy hesitated for a moment before running after her counterpart.

“Faith.”

“Faith!”

Faith had made it out into the parking lot and began to feverishly dig into her inner pockets, producing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Her hand shook ever so slightly as she attempted to get a cigarette out of the package. Eventually, the brunette produced a stick and pressed it to her lips as Buffy finally caught up with her. “Faith,” Buffy spoke, coming up in front of the other slayer. A quick look of confusion cropped up on Buffy’s face at the sight of the cigarettes and almost absentmindedly she pulled the stick from Faith’s lips and the lighter from her hands.

Faith’s face fell and she began to reach for the objects back, “B, come _on,_ give ‘em back.” There was a struggle for a moment before Buffy took a quick step backward and put her hands behind her back, “Not until you tell me what’s going on.” Faith sighed and her figure slumped as she stood back on the balls of her feet, “Seriously?”

Buffy half shrugged as if to say ‘do I look like I’m joking?’ but then caught herself and softened, “You ran and that’s kinda against your entire ‘thing’, Faith.” Faith looked away down the street offered her own shrug in return, “I dunno, this whole thing is just freaky, ya know?” She bit her lip for a moment and retrained her vision back towards Buffy, “Like I said, B, I’m not exactly a savior of the people. I just dust some vamps and sometimes shoot Oz in the ass if he’s gone all wolfy. You’re the one who has _literally_ stopped the apocalypse like three times minimum.”

“I’ve seen you though, Faith,” Buffy began to argue as she moved to hand the cigarette and lighter back to the other girl, “Okay, sure, yeah, I’ve had a little more experience than you, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a good slayer.” Faith quickly too the cigarette and pressed it to her lips, fumbling with the lighter until she torched the stick. She took a drag off of the cigarette and pulled it out of her mouth, holding it off to the side behind her and then turned her head to the side and blowing the smoke out of her mouth. “I dunno, B.”

Faith was panicking and Buffy began to pull her into a walk, stepping onto the cigarette-free side of the brunette. Faith allowed Buffy to guide her, sort of walking blindly, her discomfort now growing in the pit of her stomach. She took another quick puff of the cigarette and admitted, “This shit just has me scared, okay? Like I dunno what you want from me, Buffy, I’m kind of still fresh meat here.”

“I still get scared too,” Buffy quickly assuaged, turning her head to look at the other girl, “It just gets a little easier to hide – sometimes you just have to pretend like you’re the strong one so no one else freaks out – I mean think about it, if Xander and Willow saw me wig, they’d probably be the opposite of helpful.” Faith let out a weak laugh, taking another drag off the stick and resting it to her side again, “Yeah, I can see them running for the damn hills.” Buffy brought them to a stop and fully faced Faith. “It is scary, but I think we can do this – together,” The tiny blonde spoke, a sort of tenderness coming into her voice. “So, tomorrow we figure out what’s the what from Angel and then we go kick some horseman butt.”

Faith released another quick snort of laughter as she took one more quick sip off of the cigarette, “Horseman butt?” Buffy rolled her eyes and stole the cigarette again from Faith, she hesitated a minute and experimentally pressed it to her lips and took a very small drag, “You get the picture, Faith.”

The taller slayer was briefly shell-shocked at the concept of _The_ Buffy Anne Summers smoking a cigarette but was quickly taken out of it as Buffy began to cough. Faith let out another bright laugh as Buffy extended the stick back towards her. Faith quickly began to usher Buffy back to a walk, patting at her back for a moment before wrapping her arm around her, “Not your best move, B.”

After Buffy regained her ability to breathe she shot Faith a look and defended herself, “I’ve never had one before – and aren’t you 16? How’d you get those?” Buffy’s brow furrowed at Faith who simply took her own small drag and replied, “Look, a lady has her secrets and hey blondie – you’re only – okay so like _two_ years older than me but so what?”

“It’s not good for you!” Buffy protested beginning to reach for the offending item again. Faith quickly used her height to her advantage and sucked the rest of the stick down as she jogged slightly ahead of the other slayer before dropping and stomping out the remains. Buffy had been hot on her trail and grabbed one of her hands to find it empty and scowled. Faith released another bright and bubbly laugh, “Damn, B, if you wanted to hold my hand you just coulda said something.”

Buffy, now very aware she was holding Faith’s hand carefully retracted it and began to walk again, “You _know_ what I was trying to do.” Faith’s face pulled up into a smile, her dimples popping out in full force as she began to tease the other girl, “Aw, no, B, it’s okay, I know you wanna hold my hand.” Faith jokingly extended her hand to Buffy while shoving the other one into her jacket pocket. Much to Faith’s surprise, Buffy took her hand, lacing their fingers together. Faith stiffened for a moment, surprised that she hadn’t rattled Buffy away by badgering her about it, but quickly accepted the hand in her own and continued to walk as she asked, “Where are we going?”

“I figured since you’re not all keen on the end-of-the-world scenario we could do a sleepover?” Buffy offered, knocking her shoulder lightly into Faith’s. Faith’s eyebrows shot up and she spoke a little more incredulously than she intended, “Sleepover?” Buffy’s face grew serious for a moment as she began to talk, “It’s this thing where you go over to someone’s house and oh, you know, pretend to sleep. It’s very serious.” The blonde finished with a small laugh, which made it Faith’s turn to roll her eyes.

“It’s a school night though, B, isn’t that like against Mrs. S’ moral code or whatever?” Faith countered as they began to turn onto Buffy’s street. “Since when have you cared about school?” Buffy argued as she gripped Faith’s hand a little tighter and began to drag her along. “Uh, that’s me and school, blondie. I’m not lookin’ to get Joyce all pissed off if I make you late.” Buffy began to fish for the keys in her own jacket pocket as they began to walk up the steps to the porch of the house, “Please? It's just a sleepover, Faith, you're already here."

“ _Fine_.”


End file.
